


The Long Way Home

by Psuedo_sweetheart



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Recreational Drug Use, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27879665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psuedo_sweetheart/pseuds/Psuedo_sweetheart
Summary: Eliza Bennett and company clear out Nuka World, throw a party, and start something wonderful.
Relationships: Preston Garvey/John Hancock/Sole Survivor
Kudos: 4





	The Long Way Home

The second Liza realized there was no turning back, she sent a message to Codsworth. ‘Come to NukaWorld. Lots to do. Bring the family and lots of toys.’ And then she and Hancock sauntered into the Gauntlet. They took their time, Liza seemed to have a sixth sense for when the bloodthirsty crowd watching them would run out of patience, and only move forward then. 

What Hancock thought enraged the crowd the most though, was that she wasn’t scared. She kept a pleasant demeanor and chattered to to him about her favorite subject- food, as though they taking a stroll around Diamond City. That didn’t mean she left all the work of keeping them alive to Hancock though. Liza was simply an amazing multi-tasker. That or she talked constantly as a coping mechanism. But either way, she disabled trap after trap, chattering about how lucky they were to come across so many hard to find supplies. 

“Do you think Nuka World is boring Hancock?” she asked him as they stopped for a minute to eat and drink. 

“Not from what you told me about it. Why?”

“Well, I’m trying to figure out why someone who lives in an amusement park would put so much time, work, and supplies into this,” she waved dismissively at the dismantled mines around them.

“Like, you’d think running this place would keep them occupied, but here we all are, part of yet another ‘Ohhhh! You’re gonna die!’ show.”

She’d said, ‘Oh. You’re gonna die,’ in a ridiculous, rough, voice, just like the commentator of their journey through the Gauntlet. Hancock couldn’t have kept from laughing if he’d had a gun to his head. He was just glad they’d dismantled the explosives because he felt like he was going to fall over from laughing. 

Liza’s gaze warmed as she smiled at him, and Hancock had to glance away to keep from kissing her there and then. He didn’t want jackass commentary on that too.

“If you two don’t get a move on it I’ll let the whole audience participate and they’ll shoot you like radrats in a dumpster.” 

Liza chuckled and stood back to her feet, holding out a hand to help him up, “Do people actually do that?” she asked Hancock.

“Why would you put them in a dumpster instead of just shooting them? Sounds like a good way to lose a few fingers,” Hancock replied, his voice wavering with more laughter about to burst out. No one could make him laugh like Liza. 

They made it to the main attraction, listened bemusedly to the voice on the intercom, took the advice given, and had Coulter on the ground in less than five minutes. Hancock stayed relaxed, even as he eyed the crowd surrounding them. If anyone could get them out of this alive, it was Liza. 

The voice on the intercom was some guy called Porter Gage, who was strangely intelligent and open minded for a Raider. He had big plans for Nuka World, and Liza had hit exactly on why Porter had arranged for Coulter’s demise. Gage could see the big picture, and Coulter hadn’t. 

“Just meet the leaders. Make a good impression,” Gage suggested.

Liza encouraged Gage to sit and relax with her and Hancock, offering him a beer. Hancock was surprised when Gage took it and sat down, the guy seemed to be all business. 

“Tell me everything I need to know,” Liza said, and Gage settled in to tell the story of how they came here, who was in charge, and how to gain their respect.

“Yeah, I’ll go say hi,” Liza said, still looking unconcerned, and perhaps a little bored, “But I’ve had an annoying day. Surely they won’t mind waiting till tomorrow. They can have time to gossip and stew a little.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Gage stood to his feet and went to guard the door.

Liza proceeded to finish her drink and then toured the room, no doubt taking note of where was most defensible, and if there were any traps or weapons hidden. Satisfied, she turned to the power armor stand.

“When I get up I want someone to bring that power armor up here. I wanna see if I can get it in working order.”

“Course, boss.”

“And get some people to work on tearing that fucking Gauntlet apart. We’ll need the supplies if were gonna take the rest of this park.”

Hancock followed Liza to the bed and sat against the headboard as she took her armor off. Gage wasn’t watching, which Hancock found interesting. Once she was down to her underclothes, Liza climbed next to Hancock, burying her face against the side of his leg, her arm over his lap.

“Wake me up if you get tired,” she mumbled.

Hancock didn’t need nearly as much sleep as a ghoul and just nodded to make her feel better. The moon was high when Hancock heard a small scuffle from the open window. Liza must have heard it too and flung herself out of bed with a murderous scowl before Hancock could move. 

Reaching through the window, she grabbed the tunic of a Disciple and roughly yanked them into the room. It happened so quickly the Disciple still had the rope they were climbing in their hands. Liza snatched it, wrapped it around their throat a few times and then tossed them back out the window. The force of the fall and the tight rope around their neck, snapped their spine like a twig and whomever they had been, they were dead now.

Liza slipped back into bed and patted the bed so Hancock would sit back down.

“How’d I do?” she whispered so softly he could barely hear her.

“If they aren’t cautious now, they’re just too stupid to realize they should be.”

He saw the flash of her teeth as she smiled and then shoved her face back into her favorite place, between his leg and the mattress. 

She slept a few more hours and Hancock was relieved that Gage didn’t try to start a conversation. 

The moon was still up when Liza got out of bed and put on her armored jeans and leather jacket. The jacket was a little big, which she liked because it was easy to hide weapons in, but the jeans she’d had tailored to fit her exactly. Hancock really appreciated them, and gained information about others by their reactions to what he considered to be the finest ass in the Commonwealth.

He snorted, remembering Preston’s complete lack of reaction, that had had him scratching his head. It wasn’t until he saw Liza steal Garvey’s hat and plop it on her own head, that Hancock had finally seen him react. The man’s pupils blew so wide Hancock wondered if he was gonna go blind or pass out.

“What are you snickering about?” Liza asked as she redid her hair.

“Preston.”

“Ah, Preston,” she sighed, “I miss him. But I’m glad he isn’t here.”

Hancock felt the same. Preston wouldn’t have been been able to play along or stay silent, which was one of the many things him and Liza loved about the man. 

They took their time eating, and Liza invited Gage to join them. He did so, apparently anxious to spend as much time as possible with Liza to convince himself he hadn’t made a mistake. 

“Well, let’s go introduce ourselves properly, Hancock.” 

Gage placed himself by the door again as they left.

They visited the Disciples first and Hancock wanted to take a dip in pure radiation to get clean again after they left.

The Operators were no better, and Hancock barely managed to keep from shooting John Mason when the man got a heated over Liza’s testing of the waters.

It was the Pack’s territory where Liza finally expressed her opinion. 

“What the FUCK, is that smell?” she whispered.

“Maybe they shit everywhere like birds?” he shrugged.

“I know what shit smells like,” she insisted, but then ended the conversation as they came to the guy in charge.

Mason was big, but not as full of himself, or as brainless, as Hancock had expected. Liza spoke to him the least however, apparently tiring of their charade and ready to get somewhere relatively clean and free of tortured prisoners. 

They walked back to their home base slowly, talking quietly.

“I had thought maybe some of them would be salvageable,” she said, “People join the Raiders because they’re hungry, or have nowhere else all the damn time, but these people…”

“Worse than Pickman,” Hancock agreed.

“Way worse.”

They reached the elevator and Liza enthused about the power armor that was waiting for her. Gage seemed to get more nervous the longer she worked on it, obviously able to tell she knew what the hell she was doing and worried about it.

“What’d you think about the gangs, Boss?” he finally asked.

“They are certainly going to be a challenge, but not as bad as I had feared.”

“Yeah, they’re all ready to get things moving and you obviously get shit done.”

“I sure do,” Liza grinned, then bashed him over the head with her wrench. 

Gage hadn’t even finished falling to the floor when Hancock slit his throat just to ensure the job was done. 

“I may be a little messed up, but we did that so perfectly it kind turned me on,” Liza said, licking her lips. Hancock hated being the responsible one, so he sauntered over.

“Oh yeah? You sure it was us working together, not my amazing knifework that’s got your panties wet?” He twirled his new blade, aptly named Throatslicer. “You like the blood, don’t you?”

He was walking a thin line here. Liza was conflicted about how well she fit into this hellscape. She tried to make the place better, but she couldn’t deny that she loved their violent work. 

“Now, why don’t you finish up with that armor so you’re ready to have more fun when our friends get here?”

Liza groaned and pressed against her hand between her legs, her eyelashes fluttering.

“Fuck, Liza, you know what that does to me,” Hancock barely managed to choke out. 

“Turnabout is fair play,” she quipped as she turned back to the power armor. 

They were quiet as Liza’s fingers flew along bolts, wires, and screws. Just as she finished her Pipboy chirped. 

“They’re here,” she grinned.

Hancock stretched and picked up his shotgun, “You ready to party?”

“Fuck yeah,” she said, her smile sharp edged and a little wild.

Liza tromped to the Gauntlet in her new power armor, the Raiders that were awake, milling about nervously. 

“Wow. Gage really gets shit done,” she said as she found the place half empty. “This is perfect.”

The intercom system hadn’t been taken down yet though, therefore everyone heard the train pull in and a minute later a loud knocking.

“Hey, anyone home? We wanna know if Liza can play?” an obnoxious voice that Liza loved said.

She pressed the intercom button, “Come on in Deacon. The party hasn’t started yet.”

“Aw man, I wanted to be fashionably late, save the day, all that good stuff.”  
  
“Well in that case,” Liza grinned and shot the Raider who was closest to her, “Hurry up, or it’ll be over” she yelled at the intercom before letting go to train her gun on the wave of Raiders screaming for her blood.

Not one to waste an opportunity, a minute later Deacon burst into the room in full power armor, minigun spraying bullets and tearing through the Raiders like they were made of paper.

He looked beyond majestic and Liza whooped, raising her fist in the air, “Bro!” 

Unused to the power armor Deacon tripped and fell walking over the corpses they had just made. 

“Fuuuuuuuck. I’ve ruined everything now. Just gonna lay here and wallow till the world ends again,” he whined, curling into the fetus position as much as he could in full armor.

“Come on, idiot,” Liza laughed. 

He took her offered hand and staggered to his feet. The others were entering, also all clad in power armor, and looking at the carnage.

“Deacon, you fu-flippin’ bozo, you’re lucky you didn’t blow yourself up running through that shi-craphole,” MacCready growled, his gun creaking dangerously in his hands.

“It’s okay kitten, I know you worry about me.”

MacCready moved as though he was going to knock Deacon’s lights out, but was held back by the hand of none other than the man guarding the rear, Preston Garvey. 

“Not now, guys.” 

“Preston!” Liza squealed, “I thought you’d be at the Castle still.”

“Well, I heard you were throwing a party. It’d be rude not to attend.”

Liza bounced up onto her tiptoes, which would have been adorable if she weren’t in power armor. It was a difficult thing to make power armor look cute. 

“Piper explained that it isn’t really a party,” Curie interrupted. “We’re here to help kill people.”

“She obviously knows this,” X-6 said, a hint of exasperation in his tone.

Curie pouted, but didn’t reply as Liza waved her hands for silence.

“Okay guys. They obviously know somethings going on by now, but they might not know exactly since we kinda… killed everyone here…”

“Anyway,” she led them to a huge map and pointed out her battle plan, which was basically, go in, kill everyone, get out, and do it twice more.

“They won’t swarm us again, they wouldn’t know how to work together even if they wanted to. They’re gonna hole up and wait for the fight to come to them so they can have all the glory.”

“What a buncha idiots,” Piper groused.

“Well, it works in our favor,” Nick responded.

“Exactly,” Liza grinned though no one could see it, “Any questions?”

“Are there any civilians?” Preston asked.

“Yeah, most of them are in the marketplace, but you’ll see a few around. They’re wearing collars and will likely run away. I doubt anyone’s going to be worrying about them with us around.”

Liza looked around as Preston nodded his acknowledgment, “Anyone else?”

“No, I just wanted to point out that Garvey made us all look like assholes.”

“He always does that,” MacCready responded to Deacon.

“Wha-”

“Preston makes everyone look bad, get used to it,” Liza said, effectively ending the argument as she turned away with her gun held at the ready.

They all followed as they always did. 

With so many people encased in power armor, the fight was really just a slaughter, and it wasn’t nearly as fun as Liza had been expecting. 

“Maybe we should split up and each group take down the other gangs,” she said as she looked around at the bodies of what had been the Disciples.

“X-6, take Piper, Preston, Deacon and Cait.”

That left her with Nick, Hancock, MacCready and Curie since Codsworth and Dogmeat had stayed with Shawn.

“Hancock, you want this armor? I’m never gonna be able to find decent cover wearing this mountain,” MacCready offered.

“Hell yeah!”

Liza led them to the Operator’s headquarters, but with how easily the gang funneled into the lobby where she and her friends stood with guns blazing, it again wasn’t much of a fight. Soon all that was left was William and Maggie. Maggie was quick, but it only took Liza a minute to catch William and give his head a vicious twist.

MacCready’s steady hands on his rifle took out Maggie a minute later and the group looked around at each other.

“Anyone else think maybe we’re TOO good at this,” Nick commented, nudging a body with his armored toe.

“Perhaps we should have left the armor. To even the playing field,” Curie responded.

“Don’t worry about it,” Liza interrupted, “We have no idea what is in the rest of this park. By the time were done cleaning up we’re probably going to be glad we brought the big guns.”

“Actually only Deacon brought a big gun. I told him it was impractical, but he insisted it would, ‘look cool.’”

“Then he whined about how heavy the damn thing was the whole way here,” Nick added.

Liza and Hancock laughed, loud and crackly through their helmets.

“He’s such an asshole,” Liza sighed, sounding fond. Then she straightened up and headed toward the door. “Well, come on guys, let’s make sure the jackasses and Preston got out safe.”

They of course had made it out without a scratch and Liza led the group to the Fizztop to climb out of their armor and collect the fusion cores just as a precaution. Then they went to the marketplace where there were a couple Raiders who were quickly dispatched.

There was a lot of muttering as Liza and her friends disbanded into the crowd and started assuring the traders they were friendly, and they were free. 

As the sun started to set, Liza said her good byes, and the group headed to the Fizztop Grill. Liza flopped onto the bed, Preston and Hancock getting comfortable on either side of her. 

“Preston,” Liza cuddled up to him, “We missed you.”

“I missed you both as well. I’m glad I left the Castle when I did, I would have hated to miss this.”

“Yeah, I know you love a good old fashioned slaughter,” Liza snorted.

“We helped people,” Preston insisted, running his fingers over her hair.

“Those assholes were torturing innocent people for fun,” Hancock added, “They deserved a little slaughter.”

“Fine, but I’m not going to feel good about it,” she groused, burrowing her face against Preston’s shoulder. 

“Why don’t you get some sleep? Maybe you’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Mmmm… I am tired.”

Liza grabbed Hancock’s arm and pulled till he was nearly on top of her.

“Ain’t I a bit heavy to use for a blanket?”

“Nope. You’re perfect.”

Hancock sighed, “Well, I can’t exactly argue with that.”

When her breathing evened out Preston placed his hand on Hancock’s shoulder, “You okay?”

“Stop worryin,’” Hancock teased. His smile slid off his face a second later though as he started worrying too. “You holding up? Liza’s right, wholesale slaughter ain’t really your thing.”

Preston leaned back against the headboard, “What we saw in those buildings… I don’t know what was wrong with them, but something was, and we needed to stop them so they couldn’t hurt more people.”

“Well I ain’t gonna disagree.”

Hancock patted Preston’s thigh, “You had a long day, get some shut eye.”

Preston shifted so he could lean down and kiss Hancock’s cheek and then Liza’s forehead before finding a comfortable position and going to sleep.

Liza woke up and moaned in pleasure at being so squished and warm. Preston blinked awake at the sound and she immediately wished she’d kept her big mouth shut. He smiled at her though and she forgot everything but how grateful she was that he loved two fuck ups like her and Hancock. 

Preston ran gentle fingers up and down her arm and Liza nearly fell back to sleep.

“What did you mean, that I make everyone look bad?” he whispered so as not to wake their companions.

Liza abruptly shook off her sleepiness and looked at him.

“You want to go sit on the elevator?” she asked.

Disentangling from each other and Hancock, they went to sit on the outdoor elevator, legs dangling over the side.

“What I meant was that you’re… such a good person. Like, mindblowingly good. And half the time I can’t imagine why you like all of us, much less me.”

“I don’t want to be put on a pedestal, Liza. It’s lonely, and eventually everyone needs a break from being the best. What happens if I lose my temper? If I say something thoughtless? Will you feel betrayed? Or am I allowed to be as human as… many of us, are?”

“…I didn’t think of it that way. I thought of it more as, I admire you, and you remind me to be better. Sometimes I think if it weren’t for you, Hancock, Curie, and Piper, I’d be… like the people here. But I’m sorry, I don’t want you to feel like you have to be my guiding light instead of my dear friend and lover.”

She leaned against him and he put his arm around her.

“There’s no way you would ever be like the people here. You aren’t perfect, but you want to do good and you work at it, that counts.”

They sat in comfortable silence and watched the sunrise. Liza peeked up at Preston’s face.

“What?” he asked.

“I just realized I haven’t kissed you yet.”

“What are you waiting for?” he asked with a grin.

“The all clear.”

“We’re all clear.”

Liza perched on his lap facing him, holding his face between her hands gently, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Hmm… what was that? I can’t hear you, come closer.”

She moved forward at a snail’s pace, a smug smile on her face until Preston huffed and pulled her in. 

“You like when I lose my patience, don’t you?” he whispered against her lips.

“Well…” she kissed him again, “I do love you no matter what.” 

“Sometimes you say things like that and I feel like my heart’s going to burst with happiness.”

“And I feel like I’m gonna barf with sappiness,” Deacon interrupted.

Piper and Curie both threw things at him for interrupting the moment as Liza laid her head on Preston’s shoulder and happily listened to her friends waking up. A minute later Hancock slipped behind Preston and kissed his shoulder.

“Everything okay?” he asked, his voice extra raspy with sleep.

Preston suddenly burst out laughing.

“Was it something I said?”

“No, but you should have seen Liza’s expression when she heard your voice. Someone wants to take you straight back to bed.”

“Both of you,” Liza said as she buried her face in Preston’s chest in embarrassment. Then she stood up.

“But, we don’t have time. There’s lots to do.”

Hancock groaned and slumped against Preston, “What if we just stay here and take each other to bed?”

“We’d miss an opportunity to help our friends,” Preston said, also standing.

“Ugh, I thought having two lovers meant I would never want for sex again,” Hancock flopped to the floor in a pathetic heap.

“You shouldn’t have chosen the two busiest people in the Commonwealth,” Nick commented.

“Too true Nick, you wanna go for a spin?”

“You’re not my type.”

Hancock laughed and finally stood to join in preparing for the day.

After checking the map again, Liza decided they’d all go to the Starport area and then split up, one party going to Kiddie Kingdom, the other to the Safari.

“Alright, MacCready, I want you to lead this one. Take Curie, Cait, X-6, and Deacon. If we don’t run into problems, whoever is done first will come back stock back up at the market and start making food. Enough for the traders too.”

Liza sent MacCready and his party to the kiddie kingdom since she was eager to see if any animals were thriving in safari kingdom. 

“Each group either wears power armor or doesn’t. We don’t want some sniper taking out the unarmored because the others were alerting the whole damn place of your location. ”

She left the power armor herself, still feeling badly about yesterday, but MacCready eagerly led his group to the suits. 

“You put MacCready, Deacon, and X on the same team?” Hancock teased Liza as they left Starport full of disabled robots. 

They might do whatevers over there a favor and off each other.”

“X-6 wouldn’t disobey orders unless he had a REAL good reason. And MacCready and Deacon need to figure their shit out.”

“You just wanted both your boyfriends to hang out with you,” Nick added.

“Both? All 3! Plus my girlfriend Piper,” Liza laughed.

“You’re gonna get Cait riled if you keep that up,” Piper said, laughing.

“I can kiss her too.”

“You’re a menace, Blue.”

They quieted down as they reached the Safari Kingdom and took their positions. Preston, with his far reaching rifle in the back, Hancock who preferred his knife and shotgun in the front, with Piper and Nick and their pistols on either side. 

“All right, there’s too many of us to just slip through. We move slow and methodical, especially in the shrubs. Keep a sharp eye out for traps and large, angry, animals. I don’t know what’s really here, or what’s just noises on the intercom system.”

I hope there really are elephants,” Liza said brightly, “They’re my favorite.”

“I really don’t wanted to meet a radded up elephant,” Piper responded.

“Eh, what’s an elephant?” Hancock asked.

“Big! Like, big as a house,” Piper gestured, “With giant horns and a long, snakey, nose that they can squeeze you to death with.”

Hancock, Nick, and Preston were all looking at Liza as though she’d said she hoping there’d be a Deathclaw with a missile launcher.

“They aren’t big as a house,” she grumbled, as she led the way deeper into the enclosure.

A few minutes later they were all speechless as a half naked, buff as hell, dude slammed his super sledge into some sort of Deathclaw like creature. 

Liza lined up a shot that went straight through the creatures’ brain and it fell to the ground with a crash. 

“You help Cito,” the nearly naked guy exclaimed, lowering his sledge and staring at them.

“You friend if you kill monsters.”

Liza lowered her weapon, but didn’t holster it. 

“You live here?”

“Yes. Live here with family. But so many danger. Monsters come, I kill them, more monsters come again, I kill them again. But Cito getting tired, misses family. You help stop monsters for all time?”

“Sure,” Liza said easily, “Killing monsters is what we do best.”

“Good, good! I have shiny thing that help. Come!”

And with that he ran off. 

Liza followed, at a much slower pace, until Cito came back, a worried look on his face.

“You come?”

“Yeah, we’re coming, but I’m not running anywhere in this place.”

He stayed with them this time, watching intently as they carefully navigated intersections and peered around corners. 

“I see why good at killing monsters.”

“You’re a smart guy, Cito,” Lisa said, clapping him on the back.

Cito lit up like a lantern at the praise and clapped her on the back as well, causing her to stagger and everyone else in the group to grip their weapons tighter. 

They didn’t bring them to bear since Liza was laughing and walking it off. Hancock for one was comparing how Liza interacted with Cito with how she’d interacted with the leaders of the gangs. The difference was night and day, and it made him feel good.

“Meet family, meet family!” Cito called, opening a door to one of the habitats. Inside was a family of… gorillas. Liza was immediately charmed and asked to be introduced. Hancock wandered to the door where Preston was holding guard. 

“Here I thought I was done being surprised by things,” he commented. 

“Not with Liza around,” Preston chuckled.

“Come, meet family,” Cito dragged them over, eagerly explaining how to introduce yourself gorilla style. 

“Alright Cito, you told me about this wrinkly man, why don’t we track down his password so we can get these monsters taken care of,” Liza finally said, noticing her friends were getting restless.

The giant snake ride wasn’t difficult to find and soon they had what they needed and tromped off to the reptile house. The gatorclaws were damn near everywhere, but eventually they fought their way through, Cito excited as a kid in a candy store at how close he was to finally keeping his family safe. 

When it was over, Liza let Cito hug her and invited him to the party they were going to throw once the park had been cleared. 

“Par-ty?”

“Yeah. Lots of food and drink, we’ll see if we can get some decent music going. Dancing.”

“Cito likes new things. Will come to party.”

“Good. You might want to leave your family at home though, it’ll probably be a bit too loud for them.”

“Family not like big noises. Just Cito will come.”

With that decided Liza waved goodbye and then checked her messages to be sure MacCready hadn’t sent anything urgent. 

“Alright, we’ll go to the marketplace and see what’s what.”

MacCready and company hadn’t been by yet, so Liza, Hancock and Preston bought as much food as they could carry and started making dinner right in the marketplace while Nick and Piper resupplied. 

“Alright friends, this is my famous Insta-meat stew. It’s basically Instamash, plus whatever meat we have on hand, which today is… some sort of gator. I also happened to have some salt, pepper, and carrots, so we actually get some flavor in there too.”

It would taste better after simmering for awhile, but Liza had learned a long time ago that the idea of enjoying the taste of your food was a bit lacking in the Commonwealth, and making hungry people wait when they likely wouldn’t notice the difference anyway, was a bit cruel. 

So she dished out food for everyone, the traders eying her warily as though she was likely to start beating them with the ladle at any moment. 

Hancock helped her serve while Preston cleaned their knives and put the supplies away. 

Just as Liza was starting to worry, MacCready, X-6, Cait, Curie, and Deacon slipped into the marketplace. 

“There you are! How was Kiddie Kingdom?”

They all started talking at once, till Liza waved her hands and had everyone but MacCready dish up food. 

“It sucked!” Deacon yelled as they walked to a quieter corner.

“Sooo…”

“Ugh, boss. It did suck. This ass- uh, jerk was spraying irradiated water flippin’ everywhere and wanted us to perform, kinda like the Raiders did with you and Hancock. There was a glass maze, some weird light up maze thing, Cait had to lead then because I thought I was gonna hurl.  
I read everything I could get my hands on, like you said to do even though everyone complained, and since we kinda knew what had happened, Deacon managed to convince him to stand down and even go find his girlfriend.”

“What did he want?”

“He called the feral ghouls the Afflicted and wanted a cure. He was trying to keep them safe until his girlfriend got back with it. Curie nearly blabbed that it was impossible, but Deacon actually helped by opening his giant mouth and convincing the guy to go find his girl so he could help her.”

“I’m kinda surprised you didn’t shoot him for putting you through two mazes.”

“It was a close thing, boss. If I hadn’t known what he wanted I woulda put a bullet in him, no questions asked. But uh- I kinda know what its like to hope for an impossible cure. And if I found mine, who’s to say he can’t find his?”

“You’re a good man, MacCready.”

MacCready actually blushed, “Yeah, well, don’t go telling anyone.”

She shooed him off laughing, and Preston came to join her, wrapping his arms around her middle.

“Things go well?”

“As well as you can expect for us. I’m thinking if Kiddie Kingdom has been soaked in radioactive water for years it might be a good place for ghouls to set up.”

“Another Good Neighbor?”

“Not even close,” Liza replied firmly, “I’m not going to force anyone to live in a certain area.”

“What are you planning for the Safari Kingdom?”

“Not much. It’s Cito’s and his family. I’m gonna ask if we can plant crops there, and he and him family can have first dibs as payment. We’ll see how it works out.”

Preston squeezed her tight, “Have I said lately how much I adore you?”

She leaned back into his embrace, “Mmm…I’m always open for additional adoration.”

Turning around in his arms she kissed him soundly, then took his hand and led him to their rowdy family.

***

  
The next day they split up again to clear out the bottling plant and Dry Gulch. The evening was spent feeding up the former slaves and making plans to take over the radio station. 

“We can send out a message that we killed the Raiders and are looking for skilled workers to help us set up a settlement that will rival Diamond City,” Piper exclaimed.

“This’ll be a good place to start integrating synths without wiping their minds. DIMA was right about that,” Nick added.

“We can make a home for the homeless, whoever they are,” Hancock nodded.

“It might be safe enough for me to go get Duncan.”

Liza’s eyes lit up, “Can you imagine Shawn and Duncan running around here with a group of kids? We can keep some of the rides. They’d have a great childhood.”

“What are we doing tomorrow?” X-6 asked.

“Good question. I was thinking we’d check the surrounding area out, see who and what is there. Make sure no Raiders are hiding out.”

Nodding, X-6 stood up and went to find a mattress to sleep on. The rest of the group started to disperse as well, drowsy after a busy day, capped with a full belly.

The next day Curie and Piper were sent out to track down the radio tower, Liza wanted to talk to the Hubologists since they might be crazy and was taking Preston as backup. The rest of their group spread out and combed the surrounding area for enemies and supplies. 

Everyone had finished up by midday and Liza spent the meal time telling everyone about the Hubologists and their spaceship. 

“Ugh, I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with those dumbasses,” Cait groaned.

“Well, the leader did give me this alien gun.”

The gun was passed around to much admiration, and Liza told them about when she and Preston came across an alien and it’s ship.

“I ran out of ammo though and needed the caps so I sold it for way too cheap.”

“You met a real alien? And we’re only hearing about it now?” Deacon exclaimed.

Liza shrugged, “I’d forgotten about it, honestly.”

“Literally only you would have such an interesting life that proof of aliens would be something you could forget,” Piper laughed, putting her head down on her arms.

Curie had nearly flown over at the mention of aliens and was squeezing Liza for every detail. 

“Ready to be mayor again?” Preston teased Hancock.

“No way. ‘Sides Liza said she’s gonna get the traders to vote for one of their own. My bet is on Harvey.”

“Huh,” Preston looked for the long haired man and found him handing out NukaColas and laughing. 

Yeah, I can see it.”

They turned on the radio to hear Piper’s “Now Hiring” spiel, and she was followed by one of the trader’s who was keen to tell the story of how they’d been freed by the General of the Minutemen and her friends.

“I told her not to give out your names,” Piper interrupted, “If you want the notoriety I’m sure you can get her to gush about you personally on air as long as you want.”

“Heck no,” MacCready cried, “Pretty sure all my enemies are dead, but I don’t wanna to press my luck.”

“You think I could convince her my name is Weezer Bone and I’m a blind cobbler who specializes in combat boots for dogs?” Deacon asked.

“Whyyyyy, would you do that?” Piper said.

“Deacon the Railroad agent can’t be famous, so I want one of my alter egos to be famous.”

“If I heard some idiot waxin’ on about boots for dogs, I’d know it was you,” Cait pointed out.

“Bein’ famous is bound to be bad for your health,” Nick added. 

“What do you think the bounty on Ms. Bennett’s head is?” X-6 asked.

Everyone went silent. 

“No one with a brain between their ears is gonna trust the Raiders or Gunners to hand over a mountain of caps,” Hancock said.

“So we just gotta worry about the idiots,” MacCready replied.

“Okay, none of this,” Liza called out, turning everyone’s attention to her.

I’m gonna live the way I want and you all should too. If I start seeing everyone as a threat it’ll drive me crazy. Now let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow is another busy day.”

“Party day!” Curie enthused, clapping her hands.

The weather seemed keen to cooperate with their plans. The sun was out and a slight breeze was in the air. Curie and Deacon were in charge of decorations, while Liza had Preston going around asking if anyone played instruments or had any other talents to share. X-6 and Nick were setting up radios and lights all over the marketplace, Cait was tasked with clearing an area for a dance floor, while MacCready and Piper scoured the area for every Nukacola and chem they could find.

Liza placed herself in the kitchen and soon had plenty of the traders offering food, drink, and hands to work. This time she was determined to let things simmer and she even made fresh bread. Just as the sun was starting to set everyone gathered together. Cait and Piper had picked up Cito on their way back and he was eying the huge cook pots with interest. 

The Nukacolas were piled in crates while Hancock dumped the chems in buckets and took them up to the Fizztop. 

The place looked great, even with the weird gnomes Deacon had stuck everywhere. Curie had decorated with intricately folded napkins and NukaCola bottles filled with rocks and stoppered with candles. 

Preston had found someone who had a tin whistle and set someone else up with a bucket and a stick. Then, under Sheriff Eagle’s advisement, he’d grabbed a washboard from the western town and set another trader up with that.

“There was a fiddle there too, but no one knows how to play it,” he said sadly.

“Alright everyone,” Liza called out, “We’re gonna start this party off right, with food! After that there’ll be music and dancing and upstairs at the Fizztop there’s chems if that’s your thing. Now, let’s have some fun!”

It was a whirlwind. Liza and some volunteers doled out food, fried mirelurk, gatorstew, vegetable mash, and mutfruit pie, along with boxes of cotton candy and funnel cakes. Everyone ate and then the music started up. It was mostly just a cacophony of noise at first, but as the players warmed up it mellowed into something tuneful. Everyone took turns playing different instruments, Piper wanted a go at the drums and Preston tried his hand with the whistle. Deacon soon took over the washboard and refused to let anyone else play it until he couldn’t feel his fingers anymore.

Liza danced with everyone, whirling around the dance floor at times, and simply swaying back and forth with Preston or Hancock at others.

Taking a moment to visit the Fizztop and make sure everyone was safe, Liza found herself sucking on a chalky orange mentat with Hancock. 

“You worry about me bein’ around your boy?” Hancock asked, “I mean, I’m not exactly the kid friendly type,” he waved absently at the drug paraphernalia scattered everywhere.

Liza looked over at him and grabbed his hand, “You’re kid friendly when Shawn’s around, that’s all I care about. We’ll find you some little drug den somewhere if you want.”

“Well,” Hancock drawled, “The problem is I don’t wanna be stuck in some drug den when I got you, Preston, and Shawn to spend time with.”

“Then you have some choices to make.”

“Damn. You’re right. Wonder if I could cut back? Weekends only? Once a week?”

“You can do anything you want.”

“Damn… you’re right. Again.”

“I’m always right.”

“I’m gettin’ that impression.”

They kissed lazily for a few minutes as Liza’s buzz wore off and she returned to the party, Hancock holding her hand.


End file.
